08-14 Macelaru_GP2 copy 7/31/15 8:55 AM Page 1 Friday and Saturday Evenings, August 1 4–15, 2015, at 6:30 m a Pre-concert Recital r Clarinet g Jon Manasse , o Ilya Finkelshteyn , Cello r Jon Nakamatsu , Piano P e BRAHMS Clarinet Trio in A minor (1891) h Allegro Adagio T Andante grazioso Allegro Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off. This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Steinway Piano Avery Fisher Hall 08-14 Macelaru_GP2 copy 7/31/15 8:55 AM Page 2 Mostly Mozart Festival I Notes on the Program By Don Anderson m Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114 (1891) a JOHANNES BRAHMS r Born May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany g Died April 3, 1897, in Vienna o r Approximate length: 26 minutes P In December 1890 Brahms wrote to his publisher that he had “firmly decided” to stop composing. Fortunately, this was not destined to be the e case. The spark that burned away his resolve came from Richard Mühlfeld, h the principal clarinetist in the Court Orchestra of Meiningen, Germany. t Brahms visited the city in March 1891 and was struck by the beauty, pol - ish, and sensitivity of Mühlfeld’s playing. “You have never heard such a clar - n inet player,” he wrote to his close friend Clara Schumann. “He is absolutely o the best I know.” s Brahms listened to Mühlfeld practicing for hours, and the two held exten - e sive discussions about the clarinet’s character and capabilities. Brahms t then set to work. That summer he created in rapid succession the Trio in A o minor for clarinet, cello, and piano, as well as a quintet for clarinet and strings. Two sonatas for clarinet and piano—his final chamber works— N followed in 1894. Mellow in sound and regretful in mood, these works movingly present the thoughts and feelings of the aging composer. Brahms’s choice of instruments for the Trio in A minor was particularly insightful, the cello being as adept as the clarinet at conjuring an autumnal mood. The first movement unfolds with unhurried gentleness, dotted with the occasional outburst of more dramatic feeling. The second movement offers virtually unclouded sweetness, even when the tempo at times quick - ens slightly. A gracefully flowing Andante grazioso follows, then a com- pact finale whose urgency never grows so potent that it betrays the trio’s poetic mood. —Copyright © 2015 by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. 08-14 Macelaru_GP2 copy 7/31/15 8:55 AM Page 3 Friday and Saturday Evenings, August 1 4–15, 2015, at 7:30 m a r Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra g Cristian M a˘celaru , Conductor M|M o Lars Vogt , Piano r P MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K.543 (1788) e Adagio—Allegro Andante con moto h Menuetto: Allegro T Finale: Allegro Intermission BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (1804–07) Allegro moderato Andante con moto Rondo: Vivace Mr. Vogt will perform Beethoven’s cadenzas. M|M Mostly Mozart debut Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off. This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Steinway Piano Avery Fisher Hall 08-14 Macelaru_GP2 copy 7/31/15 8:55 AM Page 4 Mostly Mozart Festival The Mostly Mozart Festival is made possible by Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon, Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, Chris and Bruce Crawford, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation, and Friends of Mostly Mozart. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. Artist Catering provided by Zabar’s and zabars.com MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center United Airlines is a Supporter of Lincoln Center WABC-TV is a Supporter of Lincoln Center “Summer at Lincoln Center” is supported by Diet Pepsi Time Out New York is a Media Partner of Summer at Lincoln Center UPCOMING MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL EVENTS: Sunday Evening, August 16, at 5:00 in Alice Tully Hall Into the Little Hill (opera in concert) International Contemporary Ensemble George Benjamin , Conductor M|M Pierre-Laurent Aimard , Piano Hila Plitmann , Soprano M|M Susan Bickley , Mezzo-Soprano M|M MESSIAEN: Oiseaux exotiques LIGETI: Piano Concerto GEORGE BENJAMIN: Into the Little Hill Monday Night, August 17, at 10:00 in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse Pierre-Laurent Aimard , Piano Six preludes by D’ANGLEBERT, MOZART, BACH, CHOPIN, DEBUSSY , and SCRIABIN Six canons by SCHUMANN, BRAHMS, BACH, WEBERN, BOULEZ , and LIGETI GEORGE BENJAMIN: Shadowlines Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings, August 18–19, at 7:30 in Avery Fisher Hall Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra Andrew Manze , Conductor Joshua Bell , Violin and Leader MOZART: Adagio and Fugue in C minor BACH: Violin Concerto in E major BACH/MENDELSSOHN: Chaconne SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2 Pre-concert recitals with Tyler Duncan, baritone, and Erika Switzer, piano, at 6:30 M|M Mostly Mozart debut For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit MostlyMozart.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info Request Line at (212) 875-5766 to learn about program cancellations or request a Mostly Mozart brochure. Visit MostlyMozart.org for full festival listings. Join the conversation: #LCMozart We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the performers and your fellow audience members. In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of pho - tographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building. 08-14 Macelaru_GP2 copy 7/31/15 8:55 AM Page 5 Mostly Mozart Festival Welcome to Mostly Mozart I am pleased to welcome you to the 49th Mostly Mozart Festival, our annual celebration of the innovative and inspiring spirit of our namesake composer. This summer, in addition to a stellar roster of guest conductors and soloists, we are joined by composer-in-residence George Benjamin, a leading contem - porary voice whose celebrated opera Written on Skin receives its U.S. stage premiere. This landmark event is the first in a series of staged opera works to be presented in a new partnership with the New York Philharmonic. Written on Skin continues our tradition of hearing Mozart afresh in the context of the great music of our time. Under the inspired baton of Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra delights this year with the Classical repertoire that is its specialty, in addition to Beethoven’s joyous Seventh Symphony and Haydn’s triumphant Creation. Guest appearances include maestro Cornelius Meister making his New York debut; Edward Gardner, who also leads the Academy of Ancient Music in a Mendelssohn program on period instruments; and Andrew Manze with violin - ist Joshua Bell in an evening of Bach, Mozart, and Schumann. Other preemi - nent soloists include Emanuel Ax, Matthias Goerne, and festival newcomers Sol Gabetta and Alina Ibragimova, who also perform intimate recitals in our expanded Little Night Music series. And don’t miss returning favorite Emerson String Quartet and artists-in-residence the International Contemporary Ensemble, as well as invigorating pre-concert recitals and lectures, a panel dis - cussion, and a film on Haydn. With so much to choose from, we invite you to make the most of this rich and splendid season. I look forward to seeing you often. Jane Moss Ehrenkranz Artistic Director 08-14 Macelaru_GP2 copy 7/31/15 8:55 AM Page 6 Mostly Mozart Festival I Words and Music Piano By D.H. Lawrence Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me; Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings. In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide. So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past. For poetry comments and suggestions, please write to [email protected]. 08-14 Macelaru_GP2 copy 7/31/15 8:55 AM Page 7 Mostly Mozart Festival By Don Anderson t o Mozart and Beethoven both made profound impacts on the sym - h phony and the concerto. Mozart’s contributions to these forms s eclipsed those of Beethoven by sheer number, reflecting an era when composers were expected and willing to produce music in p vast quantities. In his 35 years, compared to Beethoven’s 57, a Mozart created at least four times the number of symphonies n Beethoven produced and about six times the number of concertos and concerto movements. S More significantly, Mozart raised the stature of the concerto to a level comparable to that of the symphony. Prior to his time (as well as frequently during and afterwards), a concerto was little more than a flashy display vehicle for the soloist. In such pieces as the Piano Concertos Nos. 20–25 and the sublime Clarinet Concerto, however, Mozart gave the genre greater breadth and deeper sub - stance, and also expanded the contents and the role of the orches - tra.